Faith and feminism in the same breath? Not a common association for most people, but interfaith prayer website Prayables.com is trying to change that with a new series of articles entitled The Faithful Feminist. Twice weekly articles examine what it means to be a feminist in this day and age, and how faith interacts with these principles. Provocative, compelling and thought provoking, these articles attempt to demonstrate the common ground between spirituality and female empowerment.
The concept stems from a series of revelations within the Prayables community. In a recent survey, Prayables asked over 500 women if they considered themselves to be a feminist, providing respondents with an opportunity to explain their answer. Over 70 percent of survey participants indicated that they did not consider themselves feminists, but within their explanations, made statements that were very much in line with modern conceptualizations of feminism.
After reflecting upon these comments, the Prayables staff realized that attempting to empower women through prayer without acknowledging the movement that made such a mission possible was doing a disservice to their goals and their readers. The Faithful Feminist aims to inform women about what feminism means today, and explain how faith-based practices around the world actually support the concept of feminist empowerment.
In the inaugural Faithful Feminist article, Prayables explains the evolution of feminism, concluding that today's brand of feminism has little to do with the “bra-burning, man-hating feminists” of the second wave. Feminists now espouse a perspective that women should be able to choose their lifestyle without having to consider the fact they have ovaries. This view allows women (and men) of all walks of life to be feminists in their own right.
Prayables followed up this first essay with articles about the Mother Mary as a feminist and how the faith of Wicca supports the concepts of feminism. These controversial topics have spread like wildfire, creating a buzz around this unlikely union of faith and feminism. They plan to follow up this launch with analysis of the hijab as a feminist expression and how prayer and identity politics follow the same kinds of cognitive processes.
